Saturday, March 26, 2016

Suárez strikes in deserved Uruguay comeback

Uruguay celebrates a big point away from Recife. After falling down 0-2 during the first half, the Celeste managed to come back and win a point in a 2-2 draw. The story of the game was obviously another one: Luis Suárez.

Luis Suárez returned in style. (Photo: conmebol.com)
Less than a minute into the match, it was Brazil who took an early lead through Bayern Munich's Douglas Costa. The winger was stronger than the defenders in the middle and got his leg to a Willian cross from the right. Not exactly a start any away team would imagine. Despite this early goal, the game remained pretty even in the opening stages.

The Brazilians added a second goal after 26 minutes and seemed well on their way to their first win of the qualification campaign. Neymar's beautiful pass cut open Uruguay's back four right between Pereira and Coates and found Renato Augusto. The midfielder curved around goalkeeper Muslera with a fake and fired it high into the empty net.

Brazil committed many players forward and did well throughout the first half hour. They deserved their two-goal lead at this stage, while their visitors had some serious trouble at the back.

It did not take long after the second goal for Uruguay to expose their counterparts at the other end though. Alvaro Pereira was allowed to run all the way on his left side without being bothered by any pressure. His cross went to the far post, found the head of Carlos Sánchez and he laid it back into the middle to Edinson Cavani. He had been awful so far in this game, but that will not stop a Cavani from using his chances. Filipe Luis had lost Sánchez behind him and what David Luiz was doing in the middle to stop Cavani - I don't even know. After a really entertaining half, we went to the break with a narrow Brazilian lead.

Dunga's inexplicable opinion that Luiz is a better defender than Thiago Silva (who was not invited to the national team yet again) fired back right after the break for a second time. What had to happen, happened: Luis Suárez scored in his return with a decent left-footed shot. In fairness, he could only direct it towards the goal, because David Luiz decided to just stand next to him instead of attacking the forward.
Additionally, Alvaro Pereira shone yet again with a lovely pass to Suárez in that scene. The worries ahead of the game about Uruguay's back four seemed justified after their start, but they improved during the course of the match. 

The goal completely killed Brazil's enthusiasm from the first half and they nearly lost the game towards the end. Suárez had another great chance and almost made it 3 to stun their old rivals. It stayed 2-2 until the end and Neymar got himself suspended for the upcoming away game in Paraguay with a dirty foul that he saw yellow for. 

Uruguay will play Peru at the Estadio Centenario next and will hope for three more points at home. They stay second in the group with 10 points, Brazil are in third with 8. Most of all, Oscar Tabárez' team deserved their comeback on the night.


Standings provided by Sofascore LiveScore



0 comments:

Post a Comment